


Missing Scenes

by Bastet5



Series: The Wild Hunt [21]
Category: FBI (TV 2018), FBI: Most Wanted (TV 2020)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Claustrophobia, Episode: s01e09 Reveille, Family Feels, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Missing Scenes, Should ICE be a warning of its own?, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-13
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:35:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26435014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bastet5/pseuds/Bastet5
Summary: For every story, there is always another side, another viewpoint.A look at moments from this series through the eyes of other characters, and a look at moments not seen in the main series (but possibly hinted at) through multiple eyes.
Relationships: Clinton Skye & Original Female Character(s), Jess LaCroix & Clinton Skye
Series: The Wild Hunt [21]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1678864
Comments: 19
Kudos: 7





	1. Reveille (Day 7): Long-Buried Skeletons

**Author's Note:**

> I am starting a new story for these missing scenes, but this story will only be updated as I write more missing scenes, which will not happen regularly. Unless noted otherwise, all chapters are self-contained stories. Relationship to the main story line will be noted in the titles/notes.
> 
> This first chapter takes place in the aftermath of Reveille, the night after the episode ends.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the wake of Reveille and Tali and Kateri's imprisonment by ICE, another of Kateri's long-buried skeletons comes to light, revealing to some of her family why being held by ICE seems to have shaken her to her core.

The clock switched from 2:59am to 3:00am.

Clinton lay awake in bed, starring at the pattern and tiny cracks in the paint on the ceiling above his head. He had been awake for over an hour since the noise of Tali’s distress in yet another nightmare had woken him from his own troubled dream. Even after Jess had gone in to check on her and the sound of her tears had ceased, sleep still eluded the sniper despite the fact that he was quite tired after an extremely long week and an extremely complex set of cases. His mind swirled back over and over the case, the kill-shot he had been forced to take to prevent Emma Kane from setting off her bomb, the impact their time in ICE custody was having on his niece and his daughter.

Nightmares

The almost-haunted look sometimes present in the eyes of his niece, a look no eleven-year old should have

The haunted look in Kateri’s eyes, all-too familiar after a five-year partnership; the periodic jumpiness and flinching that testified to dark memories once again exposed to the light of day

_Not as pronounced now as when we first found her at the holding facility, but …_

_The way she flinched backwards when Jess moved too fast …_

At first Clinton had chalked up some of her behavior to fear for Tali, her disgust with ICE, and severe claustrophobia, but now … he wasn’t so sure.

_The last time she was this jumpy … the last time I saw her flinching like she has been if someone moves to fast, talks to loud, reaches out toward her too quickly … was after we got her back two years ago._

After the mission that had haunted Clinton’s nightmares for years, given him a large number of his grey hairs, and yet helped bring him to the realization of how important Kateri was in his life.

_The problem is … what happened to bring … all that … back to the surface?_

_I still want to meet that set of foster parents who helped train those reactions into her_.

Clinton knew his partner, his daughter quite well, knew her reactions and her quirks, knew more than a few of her dark secrets, but this type of reaction—the flinching, the jumpiness … which almost broke his heart to see—was not her typical reaction to bad missions, even SNAFU’s like getting kidnapped by ICE. He had been by her side after … _I’ve lost count of how many panic attacks the past five years_ … some of her reactions … _the cold, the exhaustion, the balking at getting in the car_ … could be explain by her claustrophobia and a recent panic attack, _especially a bad one_. The flinching, the jumpiness, not so much.

_She wasn’t even like this after Cortez reappeared._

_She was terrified of him, froze like a deer in headlights when she first saw him … but …_

The memory of that mission just four months earlier still tended to make Clinton’s blood boil whenever he thought about for too long.

It was thoughts like that which were keeping Clinton awake.

Clinton did not get angry easily. A relatively even-tempered man, he could get along with most people, even those he did not exactly like. There were very few people he … _hate. Be honest_. Detective Cortez of the NYPD and Kateri’s abusive foster parents—three people who had taught her to fear, the latter two of whom were responsible for the jitteriness, the flinches from friendly, helping hands—were quite high on that list … along with several members of her old unit.

_She never said exactly what went wrong between them._

_Her warning was intentionally vague._ Clinton had put some pieces together anyway, none of them good.

Kateri was intensely private and extremely protective of herself. She had meted out pieces of her past slowly over the years, a story here, a quip there, a line more revealing than she probably meant at yet another time. Though she had revealed her claustrophobia relatively quickly, it had been quite sometime before the explanation came out of _why_ exactly she was claustrophobic … _that brother of hers, someone else I’d like to have a conversation with_. It was not until after her kidnapping that Kateri had shared one of her darkest secrets: the fact that she had been physically abused as a child. A fact though horrific that was sadly not that surprising. The abuse rates in foster care in the United States were staggeringly, horrifically, nauseatingly high. _Over 25% by some reports_.

_She was gone for a day-and-a-half. What happened in that time to bring those old instincts back to the fore?_

Kateri had been quiet even during her time at the house, his mother had revealed. Quiet and almost a little withdrawn and distracted, when she was not busy helping with chores.

_She told us what happened like she was narrating an AAR, except when her emotions about Tali got the best of here._

_She gave me the bare bones explanation of the takedown, how she got banged up._

_What the h**l happened?_

There had not been much time really to talk to her, try to get her to open up. There had been no privacy in the car or at the bus, no time either to talk to her. _And there are some things that if Mohawk has words for, I don’t know the words, and her French lessons did not cover those either_. Clinton had seen Kateri only briefly when he and Jess had brought Tali home after rescuing her from Georgia, and it had already been late afternoon by the time, Clinton, Jess, and Tali had all returned to the farm after coming back from _take #2_ of the citizenship ceremony Emma Kane had wanted to stop.

Clinton’s thoughts came circling back to one point. What he knew of his daughter’s habit combined with what he knew of the events of her stay in ICE custody did not explain the reactions he was currently seeing.

_What am I missing?_

_Is there something she’s not saying?_

_What am I missing?_

A soft knock at his half-open bedroom door broke Clinton from his thoughts. (The clock read 3:30am.) At his soft-voiced reply—he didn’t want to wake his niece up … if she’d even managed to go back to sleep yet—Jess appeared in the doorway, still dressed in day clothes like Clinton was. _No point in changing if I might have to get up several times_.

“Problem, bro?” Clinton asked, sitting up and reaching over to switch the lamp by his bedside on, “Tali have another nightmare?” _Haven’t heard anything_.

Jess did not respond until he had softly clicked the door shut behind himself, and as he turned back toward Clinton, the dim light of the lamp threw the slight frown on his face and the concern in his eyes into high relief.

_What happened now?_

“Tali’s fine. She’s back asleep for now. I just looked in on her,” Jess replied, moving over to take the seat at Clinton’s desk. “It’s Kat I’m worried about right now.”

 _Join the club_.

His daughter was a highly-skilled field agent, an immensely-talented undercover operative, and a crack shot with a pistol. His trust in her was absolute. That being said, Kateri also had a frustrating propensity for finding trouble … _or trouble just finds her_ … and thus frequently gave Clinton grey hair and near-heart attacks.

Clinton raised an eyebrow, waited for Jess to finish. He knew there was something more. _I’ve seen Jess’s concerned looks since we got home. Something else happened, or he wouldn’t be in here at 3 o’clock in the morning_.

“She was restless earlier. I heard her moving about some,” Jess began slowly, resting his elbows on her knee and his chin on his folded hands, “I was downstairs, making some tea. I was about to come back down the dining room steps when she walked right past me, didn’t even seem to see me. She had that look on her face … like after one of her really bad nightmares.”

Clinton, unfortunately, knew the look his brother-in-law was referring to quite well. He had seen it on Kateri’s face too many times. Nightmares were a frequent occurrence in her life.

_SHE didn’t see you?_

That was striking … and concerning. Kateri could see quite well in the dark and had almost a sixth sense for when someone was watching her. _She’s made jokes about spidey senses occasionally, though I think Kenny started it … or maybe it was Barnes._

“I didn’t say anything,” Jess added, his brow furrowing, “I was sure I’d startle her, and she’s had enough of that recently. I’ve caused enough.”

Whatever had caused her … extreme jumpiness … _after we first found her_ … had seemed to have eased somewhat when Clinton had seen Kateri briefly when he and Jess had brought Tali home on Sunday, but that jumpiness and the flinching was still much more pronounced than usual from what he had seen while home the previous evening. _And then there was Mom’s comment about how she’s seemed_. Kateri had seemed find around his mother and around Tali … _for her above anyone else, she’s going to force herself to seem fine_ … but around everyone else … the same twitchiness as before, though still not quite so pronounced as on Thursday.

_Too loud voices_

_Move too fast_

_Reach out too her too fast_

_Touch her if she doesn’t see you coming._

_She jumps slightly. She flinches slightly_.

_Then she gets that her I’m-kicking-myself-internally look on her face._

_Dad, Jess, even me … we all managed to do it more than once_.

Clinton nodded slowly, picked his words carefully before continuing, “It’s not anything personal, Jess, not against you, not against Dad, not against me, not against any of the others when it happens at work.” _Something brought up bad memories of the past, and she’s trying to dig herself back out of that hole._ There was only so much Clinton could say without risking breaking a confidence, though he wondered sometimes how much Jess might have put together over the years. LaCroix Senior, though not abusive … _as far as he’s ever said_ , had not been a father who would have won any Parent of the Year awards, as Kateri would occasionally quip.

A look of understanding passed across Jess’ face, “I know. My concern is what caused this.”

_You know … what exactly?_

_You’ve been at this job long enough._

_We’ve dealt with abused kids before._

_You could have put the pieces together._

“I don’t know,” Clinton shook his head, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. He reached over to pull his boots closer and started pulling them on, “I haven’t seen her like this since … two years ago really.” Everyone knew exactly what mission(s) were being referred to when that time reference was raised. “She wasn’t even like this after Cortez.”

_And considering what led to the first time … I have a bad feeling about this time._

Jess nodded, “Last I saw her, she was heading toward the barn.”

Clinton paused momentarily in lacing up his boots, his brow furrowing as something occurred to me, “Has Tali said anything that … could account for this?

Jess shook his head, “No.”

 _Interesting_.

Clinton wasn’t sure if that was good news or bad news.

* * *

The air outside was cool, dark, and misty as Clinton crossed the lawn from the house to the barn, carrying Kateri’s coat under one arm. Though his tread was usually quiet, he deliberately made his footsteps a little more noticeable as he trotted up the couple steps to the side door of the barn and entered with an accompanying creak of door hinges. _That needs to get oiled_ , he filed away that thought to be attended to later.

Clinton found Kateri in the same corner nook where the two of them had had _that_ discussion a few days before Christmas. She was sitting on the old couch, one of the multiple blankets that had found their way out to the barn, tucked over her legs. _Good. She plugged in the space heater_. Her posture was her best impersonation of a ball, legs drawn up toward her chest, arms wrapped around her stomach, shoulders curled, eyes open but distant. _I don’t think she’s noticed me_.

It was an interesting thing about his partner … a dichotomy that had been apparent for years.

Though not always the best about taking care of herself, Kateri was one of the strongest woman Clinton knew in a lot of ways. _She and Angie would have gotten along well, I think_. (The two had only met once or twice before his sister’s death, as far as he knew.)

Steady and calm under fire.

Steady and calm when the only thing standing between a man and potential exsanguination was the strength of her grip and the medical knowledge in her head.

Steady and calm when there was a gun pointed in her face and she was the main thing between standing between a group of hostages and a whole lot of trouble.

Steady and calm when a thin sheet of ice was all that stood between her and possibly drowning in the icy cold depths of a New York lake.

A woman who tried to keep moving forward, tried to keep on living despite the dark moments in her past that still haunted her present.

Yet

Yet

Sometimes still, Kateri seemed so haunted by her past and so terribly fragile.

 _Case in point_.

“Kid,” Clinton called softly before he got too close.

Despite his best efforts not to scare his daughter and long-time partner, Kateri started violently as his voice broke the silence of the room. Her head came up with a jerk, and there was just enough light in the room, though she hadn’t turned a lamp on, to see the flare of panic in her eyes, to see the reflection of tears trailing down her cheeks.

 _Oh, kid_.

“It’s just me, kid. Just me,” Clinton repeated, keeping his voice low and soothing, his best calming voice that he had used on Tali more than once over the years.

_Caught in a flashback?_

_Panic attack?_

_Both?_

Finally, finally, Kateri’s eyes seemed to focus on his face, and her body relaxed, one hand coming up to scrub roughly at her eyes. “Rakeni. I didn’t wake you, did I?”

Two months later, Clinton still hadn’t gotten tired of hearing that new title.

“No. I’ve been awake for a while. Tali had a nightmare earlier.” Her face twisted with concern, and Clinton added, stepping long enough to grab a chair and move it closer to the couch, switching on a lamp as he did so, “She’s okay. Back asleep now.”

The lamp cast a dim yellow glow across that corner of the barn as Clinton took a seat and passed Kateri her coat. She didn’t move enough to put it on, just tucked it around her shoulders like a blanket, and let her head sink back down onto the back of the couch.

With every move she made, Clinton just got a little more concerned.

_What the h**l is going on with you, kiddo?_

_What happened?_

He knew being in ICE custody had shook her up, being separated from Tali had shook her up even more … _almost burrowed into me when we found her …_ knew that she had been beating herself up some over what had happened, though she had done nothing wrong.

 _Don’t think she could have done anything else differently from what she’s said_.

“Panic attack?”

Kateri shook her head, “Nightmare. Again. One of those nights when I wonder if giving up sleeping would be good for my health.” Her cheeks went red a split second later, and Clinton figured that she hadn’t meant to verbalize the last statement.

 _She does that sometimes_.

“Want to talk about it?”

She gave a half-hearted shrug, blinking quickly. _Blinking back tears?_ _Not sure whether to take that shrug as a yes, a no, or a yes … but_. Sometimes Kateri was willing to talk, honestly wanted to talk. Other times, Clinton was suspicious that she wanted to talk, just didn’t want to make herself a burden. _She’s always so conscious of her ‘issues,’ as she calls them, the stresses and complexities they can be on missions sometimes. Kenny’s said that she’s called herself the ‘weak link’ sometimes. Couldn’t be further than the truth. I wish I could make her understand that_. He figured that the line of thinking, like some other statements he had heard her say over the years, was probably one that could, in the end, be traced back to the abuse she had suffered as a childhood. _That just messes you up. Doesn’t just go away_.

Clinton settled down in his chair, shifting until he was as comfortable as he was going to get. As a sniper, he was no stranger to the necessity of patience and of long hunts and long silences, the latter of which was a common facet of his relationship with Kateri. _We have had some of our most interesting conversations on stakeouts and car trips, but sometimes …_ silence was nice, and sometimes … _occasionally_ … _not usually …_ she would talk if he waited her out.

 _I wish I knew what the h**l is going on_.

Straight up asking her did not always work either. Her past was a sensitive issue. As far as he knew, Kateri had only ever admitted to Kenny and to him that she had been abused, for example. _I’m not even sure if Billy knows_. And sometimes … sensitive questions and sensitive issues would just make her clam up … _at least, temporarily_ … or just make whatever was bothering her worse.

Silence fell for a few minutes. Kateri barely shifted on her seat on the couch. She sniffed a couple of times, reached rub to scrub at her eyes once, but aside from that barely moved.

“What’s going on, kid?” Clinton finally gently prompted.

“I had a nightmare. I can’t sleep.”

_Can’t or don’t want to?_

_You said that already._

_Are you trying to dodge the question?_

Clinton let a momentary tinge of frustration flow away with his next breath—letting that show would just put her more on edge—and tried again, “Generally, Kateri. You haven’t been the same since Jess and I found you at the holding facility. I’ve noticed. Jess has noticed. Even Mom and Dad are starting to notice.”

“I’m fine.” The reply was half-hearted, and clearly a lie. _Not even a good lie_ , and Kateri, as an undercover agent, was an excellent fake with an excellent poker face, though Clinton could usually read her like an open book, even if he didn’t always understand why he was seeing what he was seeing.

_Why?_

_Why lie, kiddo?_

The skeptical look Clinton sent her back … _eyes are closed. She won’t see then_ … was Pure DadTM, and _one Dad’s used on me and Angie more than once_. “You’re lying. You’re not fine. You’re not close to fine,” his voice was stern but then abruptly softened, “Kateri, we’re worried about you. You’re scaring me. I just want to help.”

Kateri raised her head and opened her eyes long enough for him to see what looked look like guilt in them before she leaned her back down against the couch back again. “Just my …” One hand emerged from the blanket long enough to make an expansive gesture that could be referring to her claustrophobia, nightmares, PTSS, past trauma or her ‘issues,’ generally.

“It’s more than just that,” Clinton pushed gently.

_I’d have to be blind not to see that._

_You don’t have reactions like this generally._

Kateri gave another half-hearted shrug and was silent for another long minute, before she finally said, voice quiet, so quiet Clinton could barely hear her, “You don’t need more on your plate right now. There’s more important stuff to deal with.”

 _Oh, kid._ Her words frustrated Clinton and deeply saddened him all at the same time. _That couldn’t be further from the truth_.

Sometimes, especially when she said things like that, he was not sure if he wanted to shake his daughter, hug her, or shake her and then hug her. He wished he could help her understand that nothing could be further from the truth.

 _And strangle that set of foster parents while I’m at it_.

_And if that’s supposed to make me worry less … kid … it’s not exactly helping._

Clinton paused for a second, choosing his words carefully, “Kateri, look at me.” Her head came up again at that. She always responded to the DadTM tone. “You are as important in this family, to me, and to this family as any of the rest of us.” _I wish I knew how to get that to sink into your head_. “More important …” He rewound through his memories of the past week, of some of her comments and interactions with the folks … and Tali, “Do you mean Tali?”

A hesitant nod, “No kid should have to go through something like that. Bloody ICE!” The imprecation was muttered with about as much venom as Clinton had ever heard out of her.

_No one period should have to go through that._

_ICE’s treatment of all the detainees at those facilities was inhumane_.

“She was okay the first night, exhaustion, but I knew this was coming. Maybe if …” Kateri cut herself off with a snap of teeth.

_What if, should’ve, could’ve … that line of thinking’ll only drive you in circles and never help you._

“What happened wasn’t your fault in the _slightest_. Jess agrees. I agree, and Mom and Dad agree. I will repeat that all night if I need to,” Clinton emphasized, “Tali will get through this. You’ll get through this.”

He rewound through his memories again, comparing that statement to what Kateri had said the previous couple of days, especially after they had found her with ICE.

_Have you been blaming yourself this whole time?_

_You’re not responsible for the whole d**n world_.

Kateri let her head fall back against the couch and was silent for a minute. “I’m so tired, Rakeni,” she finally admitted, “Not just physically, which I am. Haven’t slept well for days.” _Nightmares_. “Generally. Life was just going back to normal … what’s normal for us … after I got shot.” _Life has been a roller coaster the last few months … for you especially_. “My medical leave was just about to end, and then ICE happened … again.”

The last word was so faint Clinton almost didn’t catch it, but as the implications of that statement sunk into his mind and his world decided to tilt upside down, Kateri’s eyes flew opened, wide with undisguised horror. _She didn’t mean to say that either._ (When she was distracted or tired or hurt or just generally having a very bad day, sometimes the line between what she was thinking and saying seemed to get blurred, and things she really, really, really didn’t mean to say would sometimes just slip out.)

_Again._

_Again._

_Again._

_Again_.

“Kateri, what do you mean ‘again’?” Clinton’s voice was almost strangled he was so in shock.

Her shoulders curled further … _if that’s actually possible_ , and her voice was almost resigned when she finally answered, “Last week was the second time I’ve been held in ICE custody. The same facility both times.”

_Oh, d**n_.

That earth-shaking revelation certainly helped explain why Kateri’s hatred of ICE had always been so great for as long as he had known her.

_Also explains why her reaction this time was so strong._

_But what happened the first time?_

“Being back there,” her voice shook, almost broke, “Who needs flashback? … Being back there, it was like living through all my old nightmares all over again.”

Clinton pushed himself to his feet slowly, not wanting to move too fast and startle Kateri by accident. For a moment there was a flare of almost hurt in her eyes, before he took a seat on the edge of the wide couch. Like she had on Thursday, Kateri almost burrowed into him as he wrapped his daughter in a tight hug. He could feel her almost trembling in his arms, and he tightened his hold. It was several minutes before she pulled back, wiping her eyes on the sleeve of her shirt, and he returned to his seat.

“When did this happen?” Clinton asked gently.

“2013,” she replied with another sniff, “There were a few details I, uh, kinda didn’t tell you about getting arrested as Alejandra Moreno … the first time.” She paused, hesitating again, “And about Cortez.”

Clinton still remembered her _second_ arrest back in 2017. Getting that call, her asking shakily for help … _lawyer’s help_ … because she had gotten arrested had given him more than a few grey hairs. _That shook her up._ NYPD interrogation rooms weren’t made with claustrophobics in mind, but now he wondered what of her reactions then, if any, could be chalked up to _whatever happened the first time_. He also remembered Cortez, her reaction after the detective with a very interesting file had clocked her as Moreno.

_2013_

_7 years ago._

_You were only 26ish_.

He wondered why she had not told him before about … _whatever this was_. Had the circumstances not been right? Had she not wanted to dredge up the old memories? Or had she not wanted to burden him with yet one more story from her past? Or something else entirely?

“What happened?” Clinton asked gently.

“My cover as Moreno was very basic,” Kateri finally began after another long silence. She was clearly exhausted, and it was taking her longer for the pieces to fall into place and for her to be able to get out her story in the way she apparently wanted to, “Much too basic, as we later figured out. It was supposed to be for a one-and-done, a one-off meeting with some of Billy’s … acquaintances.”

 _Who didn’t know you were FBI, I remember you saying that_.

Clinton stayed quiet, letting her talk, letting the words spill out as she found them at a pace, which she was comfortable with.

_Some of this you’ve said before._

It was probably what would come after that would be the kicker.

“Wrong-place, wrong-time, horrific bad luck … Murphy’s Law jinxed me, and our meet got crashed by the NYPD. A drug raid. I got arrested. That much I think I told you before.”

Clinton nodded.

 _You did_.

Kateri took a deep breath, scrubbed a hand across her eyes again, “What I didn’t tell you three years ago was that … Cortez was my arresting officer … my rather violent arresting officer.”

 _Oh_.

Clinton swore a blue streak mentally. He had done some investigations into Cortez after the Rolling Sixes case, and he remembered seeing the mentions of multiple complaints against Cortez for excessive force, complaints which really hadn’t gone anywhere.

_Yet another detective with excessive force complaints._

_This Commissioner’s better than most, but he still needs to clean house … starting with his own son_.

He had just never put the dots together between those complaints, Kateri’s reaction, and what she had obliquely warned him about concerning Cortez.

“I needed to preserve my cover for as long as possible so … I put up a fight. Not enough to get myself shot, but enough to keep up appearances,” Kateri plowed on, but then she hesitated and gave what almost looked like a shudder, “Cortez wasn’t always fat, and he’s … a lot bigger than I am, and he went … uh … overboard while taking me down. He broke my left wrist, cracked two of my ribs, and left me with about as many bruises as a …” She hesitated and then shrugged and fell silent when she couldn’t come with an appropriate simile.

_And we haven’t even gotten to ICE yet …_

Clinton forced himself to take a deep breath, breathe away the knot settling in his gut and the anger burning in his veins, as piece after piece slotted into place. No wonder that Kateri was reacting like she was. No wonder.

_Her injuries at Cortez’s hands would have brought back some of her worst memories of being abused as a child._

_And now … the reminder of that with this case would have brought back the worst memories of both_.

 _And we haven’t even gotten to ICE yet …_ Clinton forced himself to take another deep breath.

“We all got dumped in a holding cell … with some unpleasant fellows … for 48 hours. Having Crew there meant I didn’t get roughed up more, though, or ...” Her voice trailed off.

 _Or raped/assaulted?_ That thought made Clinton’s stomach lurch.

From the look on her face and in her eyes, it was clear that there was a “But wait, there’s more” moment coming.

“My cover was basic because it was a short term, one-and-done op, though … we weren’t exactly given time to do much more on it. Almost no paperwork. Almost no backstopping.”

 _I’ve got a bad feeling where this is going_.

“Because of my cover and … my coloring … they thought I was an illegal.”

 _Racial profiling at its finest_.

“Without blowing my cover in front of a whole lot of people I realllllyyy didn’t want to know who I really was, I couldn’t dispute they’re conclusion. Might not have believed me even if I had.”

_Sounds familiar._

“I got dumped into the same ICE detention facility where you and Jess found me last week. It took four days,” Kateri’s voice shook, “four bloody, interminably long days before my unit found me. Four extremely, horrifically long days spent locked up in a cage in conditions about the same as they were last week.”

_Four days._

_Four days._

_Four days in a cage._

Clinton knew quite well the extent of Kateri’s claustrophobia, and while those ‘dorms’ were not that small … _to me_ … he knew the effect being kept in a cage would have been and was for his claustrophobic partner.

It took all his will-power to stay calm, to hold back the rising tide of his temper.

“Oh, kid …” Clinton began. He almost wasn’t sure what to say, where to start.

“Everything keeps coming up one after another,” Kateri lamented, her voice steadying, transitioning from shaky to frustrated. She pushed herself up straighter so that her coat fell down from around her shoulders, “I’m just so sick of this … I keep thinking that I’m healing, that old scars will at some point in my life have less of an effect on me 20 years on, and then this happens.”

 _Healing doesn’t happen overnight_.

Clinton knew that much too well with the death of his sister and the events following her death, especially with Jess’ resulting tail-spin.

_Healing does not happen on our time schedule._

_However much we wish it would_.

And some things just kept with you for a lifetime.

“That doesn’t make you weak. It just makes you human,” Clinton noted, “Healing doesn’t happen on our time schedule, especially with all you’ve had to deal with in your life.”

_Secrets like that can just fester and ooze and rot in the darkness of your soul._

_A burden shared is a burden halved, also, as the saying goes_.

“I still couldn’t keep her safe,” Now that shakiness was back in Kateri’s voice, “And now this.”

_The nightmares? Tali’s not the only one suffering._

_You keep discounting yourself. You mean just as much to me, to all of us_.

“Kateri,” Clinton softened his voice after the first word, moving from stern to firm, “what happened was not your fault. None of us have _ever_ thought so. This was a situation none of us could have planned for. You did what you could in the circumstances you got dumped into and with the resources you had on hand. You couldn’t control ICE’s actions, then or now. You did everything you could.”

_So, please, kid, stop blaming yourself._

_It was out of your hands._

_You can’t control or plan for every eventuality_.

Kateri gave him a look that seemed skeptical, and Clinton resisted the urge to sigh audibly. He leaned back into his chair, wondering what the right words were to convince his daughter that none of this was her fault in any way, shape, or form.

“Have I ever lied to you?”

Now the look Kateri was giving him was more than skeptical. _There’s a point to this_. “No,” she replied without hesitation, “Never, as far I know.”

“Then, please, listen to me, Kateri. This was _not_ your fault. I’m not lying just to try to make you feel better. Whatever’s been running through your head for the last week, you need to listen to me, not it. This was _not_ your fault. You can’t control ICE’s actions. You couldn’t have known the raid was going to happen. I know you’re used to working around bad apples, but this was a situation you can’t plan for. You did everything you could for Tali. No one’s blaming you.”

_Please, kid, believe me._

Kateri hesitated for a long while, but finally after a heavy silence that lasted for several minutes, she nodded with a heavy sigh, “I think I know that … sometimes … if I think logically, but … all my issues … make my brain a lot less logical than I would like. I know things. The problem is sometimes believing what I’m trying to tell myself, accepting that. I tell myself that it’s not my fault. I tell myself that there’s nothing shameful in being … well, you know … as a kid. Believing myself is the problem.”

_Being abused?_

_You’ve never liked talking to the shrinks, but they’ve managed to do you a little good overtime_.

“I’ll keep telling it to you until you believe it,” Clinton said gently.

That got a smile, before Kateri shivered hard.

“It’s too cold to be outside at this hour even with the space heater. Let’s go inside,” Clinton suggested.

Kateri nodded, “I’ll be in in a few minutes, Rakeni. I just need a minute to …” Her voice trailed off, and she gave a sheepish shrug.

Clinton rose, “I get the idea.” He pressed a kiss to her hair, “Come inside when you’re ready. Is it okay if I give the cliff notes version to Jess? So he understands?”

Kateri hesitated for a moment but nodded, “No gory details, please.”

_Don’t mention the abuse, you mean?_

Clinton nodded and squeezed her shoulder gently, “I’ll be careful. Make sure you unplug the space heater before you come in.”

 _Don’t want to burn down the barn_.

“I will.”

The space heater could only do so much to combat the chill of the wee hours, and the barn was chilly, but it was still a shock to step back outside into the brisk night air, and Clinton hurried but did not run up the hill from the barn to the house. Jess appeared in the dining room door as Clinton entered with a rush of cold air.

“There’s hot water for both of you on the stove,” Jess said as a greeting, “How’s Kat?”

“A little better now,” Clinton replied, turning to hang up his coat, keeping his voice low in deference to the fact that his parents were still asleep down the hall, _or, at least, I hope they’re still asleep despite us moving about_ , “Shook up, exhausted, and still kicking herself over what happened last week, but we talked through it, and I think things’ll get better from here.”

Jess’ brow furrowed, “Kicking herself? Any clue what has her shook up?”

“That is a long story,” Clinton replied, “Let me make some tea, and then we can go back to your room to talk.”

 _A very long story, seven years in the making_.


	2. Reveille (Day 1): A Terrifying Homecoming

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope all of you, my readers, had a wonderful holiday season and a good start to the New Year so far. I took a little time off writing for Christmas, and then my muse jumped ship to Tolkien/LOTR for a bit, so that's why it's been two weeks since I last posted. LOTR was what got me into fanfiction in the first place, and I have a big series planned, but why did my muse decided to give me ideas for the middle????? So I've got 30,000ish words ... in the middle of all places. *Sigh* Now I need the inspiration for the beginning ... And then I went and got obsessed with Pacific Rim for a couple days--if you like wonderful MCU fics ... or Pacific Rim, go read Jocelyn on A03--but I'm slowly dragging my brain back towards FBI.
> 
> There are some allusions to my take on Clinton that I established in Chapter 5 of A Time To Heal, BTW.

It was almost 8:30 in the evening when Clinton’s flight landed at LaGuardia. The sniper had been away in Virginia, at Quantico more specifically, at FBI Headquarters for about a week doing, as Kateri had phrased it the last time they saw each other before he left, “sniper things.” (After the stress of the previous months, he had been glad to see the impish grin and twinkling eyes as she’d said that. Kateri’s sense of humor had suffered while she’d been down for the count after her near-death and extended hospital-stay, and seeing her sense of humor continue to return did Clinton good.) The training and meetings at Quantico had gone well, though some had been rather tedious … or extremely tedious, if he were feeling less charitable, and Clinton was glad to be back in New York, and he was looking forward to seeing his folks in a few days, having missed the previous Sunday dinner.

Everything about the trip had gone well … until the flight landed and he was able to turn his phone back on. When he did so, Clinton felt a bolt of horror rush through him to find three missed calls from his father, four missed calls from Jess, and a good-sized handful of unread text messages. Everyone knew when he was getting back, knew when his flight was … yes, his flight was about twenty minutes behind schedule … but … this number of missed calls and unread texts … _something happened. What the h**l happened?_

Something bad had happened, but what and to whom? Jess and his father had both called him, so it was almost certainly a family thing, but since they had both called him in relatively quick succession, he saw scrolling through his missed calls page, it couldn’t be either of them, Clinton figured.

But who then?

_Mom?_

_Tali?_

_Kateri?_ His daughter had a horrific propensity for finding trouble. _Please don’t let it be her_. She’d been through enough the past few months.

Jess had a handful of other relatives—Mom in Arizona, his sorry excuse for a father down in New Orleans, and his sister Louise also in New York City—but none of them would provoke this sort of response, not when his father was also calling. There were a handful of rather distant relatives on Clinton’s side of the family in the New York area, as well, but none of them would probably provoke such a response.

Clinton’s mind cycled back to the main three possibilities. Something had happened, probably to his mother, his niece, or his daughter. _What am I coming back to?_ A missed call from Jess was the latest, and without even listing to his voicemail, Clinton hit speed-dial and pressed the phone to his ear. _What the h**l is going on?_ A knot was forming in his stomach. _What happened?_

After only a couple of rings, Jess picked up, “Clinton, where are you?” His brother-in-law’s tone was stressed and sharp with worry.

“Still on the plane,” Clinton replied, “We’re almost up to the gate. What’s going on?”

“It’s Tali,” Jess replied, and Clinton’s heart sank like a stone. At this time of night, he would have expected his young niece to be at home working on her homework, watching TV, playing, or doing something with her grandparents. _Nothing that should have gotten her into trouble. What the h**l happened?_ _Don’t let it be serious._ (Those thoughts flew through his head in a moment, but Jess was still talking.) “She was at the Island Garden Food Bank in Huntington, volunteering with her class. It got raided by ICE. She managed to call me first, but I think she’s been detained.”

ICE had its purpose and its place, but sometimes … they just stuck their noses where they didn’t belong. _But Tali …_ it made no sense why she would be detained. _Absolutely no sense_. Clinton could almost hear Kateri expounding on how a SNAFU like this was just another example of ICE screwing up. She had a deep and utter loathing of ICE and despised having anything to do with them whenever one of the team’s cases overlapped with ICE for any reason.

“Why would the Food Bank get raided?” Clinton just couldn’t understand. Even by ICE standards, this didn’t make sense. Tali getting detained made no sense either. Tali was an American citizen with New York ID. ICE had no jurisdiction over her. They had no legal right to detain her … _not that that always matters to ICE, Kateri would say_.

“Beats me,” Jess replied, his voice a low growl. He didn’t take well to Tali being in danger—no decent father would, something Clinton could better understand now after the events of the last three months and Kateri’s near-fatal wound during the case in November. (Her almost-dying to save him … it was a moment he would never forget.) _Focus!!!!_ “You’re at LaGuardia, right?”

“Yes.”

“I’m on my way back to the city now. I’ll call you again when I’m close. We’ll pick up Nelson then and head straight there.” Why Jess wouldn’t be in New York, Clinton didn’t know, but he was out of the loop on what the team had been doing in his absence.

 _Been gone a week_.

“Understood.”

 _Missed a few things_.

Clinton didn’t even know if there was a case currently.

The waiting period for Jess to arrive at the airport while Clinton deplaned and retrieved his one piece of checked luggage seemed to pass interminably slowly. His worry for his niece’s safety mingled with his confusion and disbelief over the situation. He couldn’t imagine what she must be feeling right now. _We’ll find you, kiddo_. Tali had to be alright. She was all he … they had … of Angie left. This wasn’t supposed to be a situation she found herself in. Things like this weren’t supposed to happen to Tali.

_Should I call Kateri?_

_Check on her, let her know what’s going on?_

Clinton mulled that thought over for a minute as he headed towards the pick-up area to wait for Jess’ call but decided against calling her. It would take too long to swing by the Bronx to pick her up, and he didn’t want her to worry needlessly. _Once we have more news, I’ll call her._ Hopefully, the situation was just a misunderstanding and would be resolved quickly.

_I’ll call her once I get home._

_Need to check on her anyway_.

His partner-daughter would be returning to work from her lengthy injury leave on Monday, and Clinton was going to be glad to have her back at his side. The cases the team had undertaken in her absence had been quite strange. Clinton had grown used to Kateri’s constant presence at his side the last five years. Not having her there had felt like he was missing his right hand, and more than once, he had had to catch himself turning to look for her or turning to say something to her … and then had remembered she wasn’t there.

 _Almost wouldn’t have been again_ , but his daughter’s close call … taking a bullet for his sake … wasn’t a thought worth dwelling on. _Focus_. Her getting shot and nearly dying had given him enough nightmares and enough gray hairs the past couple of months, and with Tali in trouble it was the last thing he needed on his mind.

 _Find Tali, and then you can check on Kateri_.

Jess was on edge, but his temper was still under control as Clinton tossed his bag into the trunk of the SUV and climbed into the passenger seat. The only signs that Jess was on edge were (A) the dark look in his eyes and (B) the ways his fingers were drumming a strange beat on the steering wheel, which made the musical side of Clinton’s brain want to cringe because of how the rhythm kept changing … slow … fast … medium … fast … slow … still slow … fast again.

_Couldn’t he just pick one?_

“We’ll find her, bro,” was the first thing Clinton said, driving any hint of his own nerves and unease from his voice, “She’ll be alright.”

 _She has to be_.

“I know,” Jess replied, “What I want to know is how this happened. Tali would have been with her classmates, her teacher, and ICE has no jurisdiction over citizens. She shouldn’t have been detained.”

To that Clinton had no answer, though he could almost hear Kateri complaining in a tone of disgust, “It’s ICE!” as if that simple sentence would explain it all.

* * *

In one small mercy in what was turning into a less than pleasant homecoming, traffic was comparatively light, and the trip from LaGuardia back to the farm went unusually quickly. Clinton’s father was waiting on the porch when they arrived, so they were able to make a quick turn-around and head on towards Huntington. The mood in the car was tense and angry—they all had a bone to pick with ICE and were worried about Tali—but none of them thought this was anything more than one of ICE’s major screw-ups, just made much more personal by the fact that it was Tali of all people that was the victim.

None of them expected that within a few hours the situation wouldn’t be resolved and Tali wouldn’t be home safe in her bed, hopefully no worse for a wear for an experience no 11-year-old should have to go through. Save for a few questions posed to Clinton about how his trip to Quantico had gone, the car ride passed mostly in silence, and even the sniper, as quiet as he usually was, was at a loss for words for what to say to help deal with such an unprecedented situation.

The Island Garden Food Bank in Huntington on Long Island where Tali had been volunteering with her classmates that school year was a large building that had probably been a warehouse in a past life. Daniel, one of the employees at the food bank, a tall African American man with neat dreadlocks hanging to his shoulders, met them outside. He seemed to know Jess by sight and immediately started to explain what had happened as he escorted them inside.

"The ICE agents came in right before we closed. Herded everybody together and asked for IDs."

 _Sounds like ICE_.

“They have a warrant?” asked Clinton.

Daniel shook his head, “If they did, I didn’t see it. They separated out ten Latina women and girls as well as Tali and her cousin.”

_Did anyone ask to see the warrant?_

_Wait …_

_What …_

_Tali and her cousin?_

For a moment, Clinton’s brain ground to a screeching halt, and he was shocked into utter silence, born from horror and disbelief. Jess stopped dead in his tracks and turned back toward Clinton and his father, and the three exchanged a stunned look.

_Oh, kid, what were you doing here?_

Clinton knew Kateri did volunteer work in her spare time, but as far as he knew the only reason that she came out to Long Island was to go to the farm. Her work was usually confined to the Bronx, or so he had thought.

_You’re supposed to be safe at home on injury leave._

_What the h**l did you get yourself into this time?_

“Her cousin?” Jess exclaimed, his voice caught between shock and disbelief.

_How’d you get mixed up in something else?_

_Oh, kid._

_Sometimes you almost need a keeper the way trouble finds you_.

Mistaking the tone of Jess’ question for non-comprehension, not shocked disbelief, Daniel hastened to explain, “A tall woman, rather thin, almost a little gaunt. Darker skinned like Tali. Dark hair. Leather jacket.”

Kateri had lost a lot of weight during her time in the hospital, and despite his mother’s best attempts at fattening her back up, she still hadn’t regained all the weight she had lost. She had always been tall and thin, but now she was just enough on the too thin side that her features could look somewhat gaunt in unflattering lighting.

“We know who she is,” Clinton responded, slightly impressed that he had managed to keep his own voice level, “We just didn’t know she was here with Tali.”

 _Kateri’s going to be spitting nails_.

Kateri's presence only increased the question of how and why the two girls had been detained. _Jess’ FBI. She’s FBI_. By all rights, this should not have happened. _ICE is arresting FBI now … seriously?_

“This is nuts,” exclaimed Jess, “Didn’t anyone tell the agents who Tali was? Didn’t Kateri identify herself as FBI?”

Daniel’s reply was full of deep-seated frustration, “H**l, yea. We were screamin’ at them that she was from the middle school. The others kids told ‘em, too. Her cousin … Kateri … was protesting as loudly as she could to any of the agents who were listening. She identified herself verbally as FBI from what I could hear, but I don’t think she had her ID.”

_She doesn’t always carry it off duty._

“She’s on medical leave,” Clinton noted, “Probably wasn’t carrying it.”

_Doesn’t always carry it on duty … depending on what she’s up to._

A slight frown passed across Daniel’s face at that comment, prompting a note of worry in Clinton’s mind. “Kateri even offered to call her lawyer, said he could explain in detail why what they were doing was illegal,” Daniel continued.

_That’s my girl!_

That got a smirk from Nelson and a bark of laughter from Jess. Kateri wanting to call her lawyer always meant calling Clinton, and Clinton would have been quite happy to verbally filet the agent in charge of this raid … if he could have. _I probably was still in the air then since my flight was delayed_ , which meant that however much Kateri would have called, she wouldn’t have gotten him.

Daniel’s next words, however, wiped any hint of amusement from their faces. “You said she was on medical leave, though?”

The hint of worry in Clinton’s mind exploded into a fire. _Oh, kid_. _What happened?_ “Yes,” Clinton replied, fighting to keep the worry from his voice, “She was seriously injured in the line of duty a couple of months ago. Why?” _You’re going to make me bone white before I’m fifty, Kateri_.

Daniel’s frown increased. “Don’t know what happened, but the arresting agents roughed her up a bit. I saw her in cuffs at one point. When their voices got loud enough, I heard something about her not cooperating. She seemed to be moving alright afterwards, maybe a little stiffly.”

If this had been six weeks ago, Clinton would have been seriously concerned, but considering that Kateri was returning to work within days, it would take a lot of “roughing up” to do enough damage to be a concern, but …

 _Depending on how bad the “roughing up” was …_ He could feel his temper rising at the mere thought of what they had done to her and forced it back down. There was work to be done, and losing his temper would be not at all productive.

_And considering ICE’s track records at times of medical treatment for its detainees …_

The sooner they found the girls, the better … just in case.

 _Being locked in one of their holding cells won’t do anything good for her claustrophobia, either_.

Being locked in a cage was going to be a living nightmare for her.

Jaw tight, Jess brought the conversation back around to where Daniel had been before the side-bar on Kateri getting roughed up had begun. “So Tali and Kateri were separated out, even after they showed ID and Kateri identified herself as FBI?”

Daniel nodded, “I don’t think they believed her. The head agent said neither of them looked American so they were going in with the other illegals.”

It wasn’t the first time Kateri had been the victim of racial profiling—that had gotten her arrested by the NYPD a couple of years before … _one of the first times she pulled me as her lawyer card_ —and it probably wouldn’t be the last.

“Funny,” Clinton’s father scoffed, “They’re probably the only real Americans in this place.”

Clinton understood now what Jess might have been feeling and dealing with on the ride to the food bank. As much as he was concerned for Tali, his favorite niece … _my only one_ , it was a different having … _your own kid in danger_.

“I’m sorry,” Daniel apologized, “I did everything I could.”

Jess nodded, “I know you did, Daniel. We appreciate it.”

A small red-headed girl in a white jacket, whose green eyes were wide and wet with tears—Clinton recognized Tali’s friend Chloe from pictures he had seen—approached. “Mr. LaCroix,” she said, “Tali and her friend gave these to me before they took them away.” She handed over _four_ phones, one that was on and had a background picture of a familiar hawk and three powered down phones that Clinton recognized by their battered cases and slightly scratched screens as his daughter’s phones, “I really hope they’re okay.”

Jess took the phones from Chloe, thanking her gently, and then passed Kateri’s phones over to Clinton, who tucked them carefully into one pocket of his great-coat. He’d return them to her once the girls were found.

Turning to Clinton, Jess said, “Let’s start makin’ calls. I want the agent-in-charge of this raid.”

“I’m goin’ with you,” growled Nelson.

“That’s not a good idea,” Clinton cautioned, as much as he sympathized with where his father was coming from. Tali was his grand-daughter, and his parents had welcomed Kateri into the family as one of their own, as if she really were Clinton’s own daughter.

(The sniper’s mind went to the folder of papers tucked away at his apartment, waiting for Kateri’s birthday, the papers that could make his de facto adoption of her legal. _Focus!_ )

Jess put a hand on Nelson’s shoulder, “Marilou’ll need you with her. This is just some stupid mistake. We’ll find the girls. They’re tough. They’ll look out for each other. They’ll be okay.”

 _They have to be_.

* * *

Clinton and Jess dropped Nelson back off at the farm, stopping just long enough to quickly reassure his mother with the same message they’d told his father at the food bank, and then headed back toward Manhattan, making calls all the while. By the time they reached Manhattan and with a little help from Hana, they had the name of the hapless ICE agent-in-charge who was about to be dead meat for his part in this screw-up: Austin Stevens.

Agent Stevens was a smooth-talking man, middle-aged, dressed in a sharp suit, despite the late hour. He seemed to have had advance warning they were coming, and by the time Clinton and Jess got upstairs to his floor, Stevens was waiting for them and immediately started apologizing as he escorted them to his office.

“I can’t tell you how sorry I am, Agent LaCroix. There is no excuse for this,” said Stevens, “It was a field decision …”

Jess interrupted him before he could finish, “We don’t care what happened. You have my agent and my daughter, and I want them back. Today.”

 _Not there’s much left of today, is there?_ Clinton discretely checked his watch. It was already past midnight. _Oh._

“Where are they?” Prompted Clinton, “You’re holding an FBI agent and my underage niece, both of whom are American citizens.”

 _Get your house in order_.

“This was a field decision made in the moment. I had no control over it,” Stevens repeated, “I don’t know whether either of them are. I haven’t gotten the field report yet.”

_It’s been at least three hours._

_You haven’t heard anything yet?_ Clinton was instantly suspicious.

“You said your daughter’s name was Tali?” Stevens continuing, looking across at Jess.

“Let me write it down for you,” Jess replied, his voice near a low growl. He took a step forward toward Stevens’ desk, which was unusual in his orderliness. That made Clinton think about what his daughter’s locker at the office looked like after she got fed up with the mess in it and went on a cleaning spree every couple of months. _Focus._ Jess leaned down and grabbed a pad of sticky notes and a pin, speaking as he wrote, “Natalia Skye LaCroix. She’s 11 years old. Her mother died in Afghanistan, and now your people are doing this to her.” Jess slammed the pad and pen back onto the desk.

 _Careful, Jess_. ICE was usually not cooperative on the best of days, or so it had been when the team had interacted with ICE in the past, but today, they needed ICE’s cooperation to get the girls back.

Clinton stepped forward and took the pad from the desk, “And my partner, Kateri Wood. A decorated FBI agent for over 10 years.”

“I understand. We’re all on the same team here.” Stevens rose to his feet. His tone was intended to be somewhere between soothing and pacifying, considering how frustrated both Jess and Clinton obviously were, but the sniper found his tone more irritating than anything else. _No, I very much doubt we are_. “This raid was on the books when I took over this position a week ago. I’m still straightening things out.” His tone switched to almost confiding, one boss talking to another.

 _Get your house in order then_.

“Looks like you’ve got your work cut out for you,” noted Clinton dryly, “I’m Tali’s uncle and Kateri’s partner, 300th generation American in case you were wondering.”

Stevens pulled a card from his pocket and handed it to Jess, as Clinton turned and stepped toward the hallway. _Nothing more useful to do here._ “We’ll find your girl and your agent. You have my card. You should email me photos of both of them.”

“We will, and I’ll be calling you,” Jess replied, “every 10 minutes. I expect you to take my calls, Mr. Stevens.”

“Copy that,” said Stevens, “I’ll have good news for you soon. And again, I’m sorry.”

 _Good news … I don’t feel reassured with that coming from you_.

Despite what Agent Stevens had said, Clinton had a feeling as he followed Jess from ICE’s building, that finding the girls and getting them home was not going to be quite so simple as previously thought.


	3. Reveille (Day 2): The Hunt for the Kids (Part 1: Finding Kateri)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This series has now officially hit the 400,000 word mark!!
> 
> You'll notice from the title that this is marked as Part 1. I plan to, at a late date, right Part 2 where Clinton and Jess search for and find Tali.

Clinton had no fondness for ICE. He could tolerate dealing with their agents at their local/regional offices, though it was about as rare as seeing the Northern Lights in New York that they were actually helpful or cooperative … _Kateri would probably say that the world might be ending if both ever happened at the same time_ … and, more often, getting needed intel was like pulling hen’s teeth.

Going to their holding facilities, however, always made Clinton’s blood boil. As a son, a brother, a friend … a father … as a human-being, seeing people locked up in cages horrified and disgusted him. The law was the law. Whether or not, as Kateri put it from time to time, the law should be the law was another matter entirely, but lawbreakers or not (whatever their crimes), dumping anyone in a glorified warehouse with no beds, foil blankets, bad climate control, questionable medical care, and sometimes questionable food was just wrong—horrifically, undeniably wrong—however you looked at the matter.

Thursday passed quickly, and the team’s new case—the hunt for Emma Kane—provided something to do, a distraction from worrying about Tali and Kateri, a distraction from the incompetency of ICE and Agent Steven’s inability to get his house in order, a distraction from the torment of not being able to find the girls, a distraction from the fear.

The drives between New York City and the Kane’s residence in Walden, New York—a long hour-and-a-half drive each way from the city—were unusually tiresome and especially hard. After years of getting used to Kateri’s company and their rabbit-trailing chats during long car trips, the silence or the grumbles when Jess was talking about ICE was almost oppressive.

Too much time to think.

Clinton, as a sniper, knew how to focus single-mindedly on a task, how to look down the scope of his rifle and focus on nothing but the target(s) in front of him, but here and now, it was hard to focus, hard to focus on the case as they waited for news for Stevens, hard to force the constant refrain in his mind, _Where are they? Are they okay?_

Too much time to worry.

Too many reminders of the last time the team had lost her.

But finally, finally, while Clinton was at HQ working, a call came in from Jess, who had left an hour before to go to Bellevue Hospital to speak with Tyler Kane, with news that ICE had finally gotten its rear in gear and Tali and Kateri had been found.

_And it only took ICE … almost an entire day … to find them_.

To add insult to injury, the ICE Holding Facility where the two girls were being held was in Manhattan, not on Long Island, the facility there being full. Kateri and Tali had been in the team’s backyard all along, not even that far from HQ.

All along.

Knowing that the girls had been there all along for about 24-hours now rankled and burned. Kateri, in most circumstances, could do a good job of taking care of herself— _she’s a survivor_ —but Clinton had a bad feeling that between her claustrophobia and PTSS, getting locked in one of ICE’s cages for a day was … not going to do turn out well. And Tali … she was just a kid, just a kid who should never have seen the inside of one of those facilities or been in that position in the first place. Clinton had no idea how his niece would be handling … this. Trying to watch over her was just going to put more stress on Kateri, who was probably some combination of spitting nails and freaking out.

_The sooner we pick them up and get them home, the better_.

Jess picked Clinton up at HQ, and together the two headed to the ICE facility. The detention center set Clinton’s teeth on edge and made his blood boil the moment an Agent Davis, a large heavy-set Black man, met them outside and then let them inside. Long, sterile hallways of painted white bricks, metal doorways on sliding rails, questionable lighting … it all reminded Clinton of a prison. The holding room itself was … worse. Clinton could feel the chill in the air even through his great-coat. The walls were lined with what looked like … _plastic?_ … giant black sheets that reminded Clinton of giant garbage bags, cut open.

_Are we housing animals or detaining people?_

“The facility in Long Island was full-up, so the detainees from the food bank raid were transported here,” said Agent David as he led Clinton and Jess into the holding room, “They’re in dorm C. This way.” He pointed ahead of them to one of the sub-divided rooms, its walls made of chain-link.

_I feel like I’m in a dog pound!_

“Dorms?” Clinton replied, letting cold anger, which was burning through his veins and was only contained through iron discipline, mix with sarcastic irony and then seep into his voice, “Last dorm I was in had beds.” His tone was biting.

_This is unconscionable._

Suddenly, a familiar voice rang out, “Jess, Clinton!”

The two were almost level with the far chain-link wall of Dorm C in which Kateri and Tali were supposed to be. Clinton immediately recognized his partner’s voice, and though they had turned towards the female ICE agent, who seemed to be the door warden, his head came around, and Jess spun on one heel at Kateri’s call. _Found them_. Clinton could feel a rush of relief sweep through him at the sound of her voice. _Found them_.

“Open it,” Jess snapped at the door warden.

The chain-link door of the cage that was Dorm C slid open with a rattle and a creak, groaning in a way that set Clinton’s teeth on edge and made him want to oil the hinges and slides.

Kateri seemed to have been sitting toward the back of the cage near the backwall, but she was on her feet and moving forward as Clinton stepped inside the cage. Though she had been off-duty when she was taken, she was dressed in exactly the same manner that she did on cases, though her leather-jacket was surprisingly missing. Despite his mother’s best efforts at fattening her up, Kateri still had not fully gained back all the weight she had lost in the hospital late the previous year, and without the extra bulk of her leather jacket, Clinton thought that his daughter looked almost thin and a little frail in the facility’s questionable lighting.

Kateri lunged forward as she got close, and even as he opened his arms to catch her, Clinton felt his heart go cold as he noticed that there was no sign of Tali, no little form sprinting forward towards Jess.

_Where’s Tali?_

That question was one of the foremost in his mind, but for the moment Clinton also had his daughter to worry about. She had buried her face in his shoulder, and from cold, tears, or something else entirely, she was trembling, shaking in his arms. Clinton tightened his hold slightly, trying to keep the hug comforting but not so tight and constraining that it would make her uncomfortable, and pressed a kiss to her hair.

“I thought it was only at work I couldn’t let you out of my sight?” He said, his attempt at a light-hearted joke falling flat when all that came out in his tone was complete and utter relief, not humor.

For a few seconds, nothing happened, but finally, as if it had taken his words time to sink in, Kateri shifted slightly, murmuring a soft reply, “Sorry.” There was a wealth of emotion in her voice in that short, one-word reply, a mixture of bone-deep exhaustion, pain, and what almost sounded-like guilt, a mixture that did nothing to reassure Clinton about Tali’s situation or about Kateri’s … after what Daniel had told them about the take-down at the foodbank.

Paternal worry had the arm Clinton had around Kateri’s back tighten for a moment, but almost immediately, he felt her flinch in his hold, and even as he stiffened in anger, he shifted his hold, and she relaxed again. _That’s where she’s hurt. Low on her back. Usual takedown style, probably knee to her back_. The idea of her being manhandled sent his protective instincts back into high gear—knowing how capable an agent she was didn’t make him hate seeing her get hurt any less—and he forced himself to focus.

“Are you alright?” Clinton asked firmly.

There was a beat of silence as Kateri pulled away slowly and took a half-step backwards, scrubbing the cuff of her fleece jacket across her eyes. “Depends on your definition of alright,” she replied softly, a rare note of vulnerability in her quiet words, “Can we just get out of here, please?” Her voice shook heavily on her final words, troubling Clinton more.

Kateri was usually not one to admit what was troubling her. She played her troubles, her worries, and her state of health close to her own chest, and for her to so bluntly admit that she was struggling …

_I’m not claustrophobic, but spending a day in this cage …_ He had no words.

After studying her carefully for a moment, Clinton nodded wordlessly and stepped aside to let her precede him toward the door. As angry as he was toward ICE right now, he didn’t consider them a threat, especially with Jess nearby, but old instinct still had him send her out first, leaving him to watch Kateri’s back.

Jess was standing just outside the entrance to Dorm C, which the longer Clinton thought about it, the more it reminded him of a slightly glorified cage in a dog pound. There was relief in his eyes, mingled with concern for Tali, anger for the unprecedented and unconscionable situation, and fear, an emotion that Clinton also felt.

_Tali should have been with Kateri._

_The update we got from Stevens said they were together._

_So where the h**l is she?_

_Why isn’t she here?_

It seemed clear from how shaken Kateri and the fact that she hadn’t said anything about Tali being elsewhere in the facility that … Tali … was gone … somewhere.

“You alright, Kat?” Jess asked as soon as Clinton and Kateri stepped out into the hallway and were, at last, free of Dorm C’s constraints. The rattling of the cage door closing muffled his words, but the three were close enough together that Kateri seemed to hear anyway.

Kateri gave a tired, half-shrug. Her gaze was fixed somewhere around the top of Jess’ right shoulder, and Clinton realized she hadn’t met his eyes yet either. Lack of eye contact wasn’t something new with her. It was more a nervous habit, a leftover instinct from her troubled childhood, that disappeared and reappeared at random intervals usually when some reminder was plaguing her. _Not just claustrophobia_. “Enough for the moment,” she replied, voice quiet.

A look of concern that passed between Jess and Clinton at her statement, both for her words and for her mannerisms.

_What exactly happened the last 24-hours?_ Kateri was acting very … un-Kateri like. Clinton had expected that being held would trigger her claustrophobia, perhaps even memories from when she was kidnapped, but … he had a sense there was something more.

“Where’s Tali?” Jess posed the question that, with Kateri safe, if not entirely sound, was foremost on their minds.

His daughter hesitated, her face twisting with emotion for a moment, before she finally replied, “I don’t know. I’m so sorry. I don’t know.” Her voice was trembling again, and she looked on the verge of tears. Clinton stepped closer and wrapped an arm tightly around her shaking shoulders. “They took her away this morning about 6am,” she continued after a moment, visibly trying to steady herself only partially successfully, “She and some others from the food bank raid were transferred. I don’t know where. I’m sorry, Jess. I tried …”

_I’m sure you did everything you could, kiddo_.

“It’s not your fault,” said Jess, his voice tight as his eyes scanned the holding room and the ICE guards, “I know you would have done everything you could.”

For a moment all was still, and then without warning, Jess’ face darkened, and in an instant, his temper boiled over, and he turned on the hefty Davis, grabbing two fist-fulls of his coat and shoving him back against the chain-link wall of the dorm. “Where’s my daughter you lying son-of-a-bitch?” Jess growled.

_Oh, bloody h**l_. Kateri’s swearing habit had even rubbed off on Clinton a little.

Clinton spared one quick glance toward Kateri to make sure his daughter was safely out of harm’s way—she was already stutter-stepping backwards out of range, an indescribable look on her face, one of almost instinctual fear—and then he lunged forward along with the ICE shift-supervisor to pull Jess backwards off of Agent Davis.

_Not now, Jess. Not now._

It took several long seconds of sharp pulls on his coat and hissed words before Clinton was finally able to pull Jess off and shove him backwards well out of range. _Not the time or the place, Jess. Punching Davis isn’t going to make them want to cooperate._ As much as Clinton understood the desire to hit something, was furious with ICE and whatever the h**l they thought they were doing, someone had to keep a cool head, and with Kateri as shaken-up as he had seen in a long time, that job fell to Clinton.

“I’ve got him,” Clinton snapped at the ICE agents.

There was a moment’s silence, the air so thick with tension that Clinton could have cut it easily with his favorite hunting knife. He glanced over at Jess, making sure he was staying back. FBI agents facing off with ICE … the way they were arrayed almost reminded Clinton of the old western movies he really didn’t like, of cowboys faced off at a shootout.

“I don’t know what happened to your girl,” Agent Davis protested, replying to Jess’ earlier question, “I’ve never seen her.”

Clinton risked a quick glance over his shoulder back at Kateri, both checking on her and eyeballing her response. She was still shaking, her shoulders curled slightly, and her arms were wrapped around her torso as if she were either trying to hug herself or keep herself from shaking to pieces. Her face, though … Kateri usually had the blank, expressionless mask down to an art form, but now her composure was shattered, and Clinton could almost see every emotion sweeping across her face, and at Davis’ words, he saw … skepticism and disbelief.

_Can deal with all that later_.

For now, getting everyone out of ICE’s facility so Jess could get his head on straight and Clinton could get Kateri checked on was the next move.

_Regroup and plan later._

_Can deal with whether Davis is lying … later._

_Let’s go before more tempers explode_.

Motioning for Kateri to follow, Clinton pushed Jess none-too gently toward the door of the holding room, “Come on!”

_Let’s get out of here before something else goes wrong_.

Half-way up the aisle, Jess turned back toward the ICE Agents, shouting, “This place is a hellhole! You should be ashamed of yourself.” As much as he agreed with Jess’ words, Clinton cursed silently as he interposed his own body between his brother-in-law and the ICE agents. With an arm around the middle, Clinton caught Jess, trying to stop his lunge back down the aisle, but Jess’ momentum worked against Clinton, forcing him backwards several steps before he could get enough traction and leverage to stop Jess’ renewed advance.

_Not here, not now!_

“Come on, Jess,” Clinton gave his brother-in-law a less than gentle shove toward the door, glancing back as he did so to make sure Kateri was still following. She was, and her wide eyes and curled posture only intensified his desire to get all of them out of there NOW.

Get her safe. Get them out of there … before something else went wrong.

Then they could figure everything out.

* * *

The sun had long since set as Clinton, Kateri, and Jess stepped outside of ICE’s Manhattan holding facility into the parking lot, into the cold night that didn’t smell like recycled air, stale sweat, and fear. Jess immediately pulled ahead, his energy poured into hurried movements, long strides taking him ahead toward the car. Clinton, who was having to split his attention between keeping an eye on his daughter and his brother-in-law, kept his strides shorter to keep pace with Kateri who was moving more slowly. She seemed to have relaxed somewhat as soon as they got outside into the open air but then almost immediately began to shiver hard, curling in on herself even more than before in a futile attempt to keep warm.

_What happened to her jacket?_

_She’s rarely ever parted from that thing_.

Clinton tucked his gloves into his pants pockets and then, after slipping off his greatcoat, tucked it around Kateri’s shoulders as they continued on toward the car. She started slightly as he did so, as if she were lost in her own thoughts. While her hands automatically to pull its weight and warmth further around her, she opened her mouth as if she were about to protest.

_If one of us is going to be cold tonight, kiddo, it’s not going to be you_.

Clinton gave her a fond look that nevertheless said wordlessly that in no uncertain terms protesting would be useless.

“Niawen,” Kateri finally said quietly, shooting him a grateful smile as she pulled his coat even closer around her shoulders. A muscle in her jaw tensed and then smoothed out. Was she biting back another comment? Trying to keep her teeth from chattering.

“You’re welcome,” Clinton replied, matching her pitch, though he didn’t switch into Mohawk. _Jess’ far enough ahead … wind’s the wrong direction for our voices to carry_. “Do you need a medic to look at your back?”

He hadn’t forgotten Daniel’s story or her flinch when he’d hugged her inside, wasn’t sure that he could forget that story or those moments. There had been no good chance before to ask, although the fact that she was still on her feet and hadn’t specifically requested medical attention already indicated that, even if she were hurt, it probably wasn’t too serious.

Probably.

Adrenaline was a funny thing, as she well knew from that early mission. She had gotten shot and never even realized it … until a few seconds before she collapsed.

Without hesitating, Kateri shook her head. “No, I’m alright,” she replied, “Just bruised. I objected to almost getting separated from Tali at the food bank, and one of the ICE goons objected to my objecting.”

_Well, that fills in a couple missing details from what Daniel said_.

“You sure?” Clinton confirmed. Even the thought of the two being separated, of Tali alone in ICE custody, and the same song, 99th verse of an agent overreacting with too much force angered him beyond words, and he fought to keep his voice level as he spoke, to keep the anger out of his tone.

(When she was upset, when the memories of the past were too close, sometimes she didn’t always recognize that anger in someone’s voice or mien wasn’t necessarily directed at her.)

He was not entirely successful.

Kateri nodded. Her forced smile that was supposed to be reassuring failed to be fully convincing. “Nothing’s torn or rebroken, if that’s what you’re concerned about. It would have hurt a h**l of a lot more in the moment or since then. Yes, my back aches, as you know since I flinched, but it’s the kind of hurt when a perp gets a hit in or Kenny forgets to pull his punch while we’re sparing. Something besides concrete for a seat and a bed, a hot shower, and a slug of IB will do wonders for fixing things.”

She fell silent for a moment, and Clinton let the silence linger as he mulled over her words. “What a way to get called back here,” Kateri continued a minute later, giving a hard shiver that made a flash of pain fly across her face.

Clinton gave a wry snort. _A homecoming that’ll go down in team lore and family nightmares._ “I actually flew into JFK last night soon after the raid happened. As soon as I turned my phone back on, it started blowing up. At first, we only knew Tali had been taken … until we got to the food bank.”

_As if I don’t have enough grey hairs already …_

Nothing more was said until the two reached the car around which Jess was pacing, back and forth, back and forth, around and around, as he poured restless energy and heart-wrenching fear into movement. Pacing was one of Jess’ ticks when he was thinking or restless or troubled, and Jess was as on edge as Clinton had seen in years. His face was full of burning anger, and Jess looked about one step from losing his temper again. Jess was a father, and the sight of those people in the Dorms—all the children, so many young children, so many frightened and in tears—would have made him … _both of us_ … angry even if neither of the girls had been involved.

Jess stopped his restless pacing when Clinton and Kateri caught up, turning sharply to face them, but his movements were to sharp, too quick for her frayed nerves and shattered composure, and Kateri flinched backwards violently.

Aside from Kenny, Clinton was the only other one on the team who knew that Kateri had been severely abused as a child, and like after her kidnapping years earlier, dark memories could rise back to the surface during the worst of times, and long-ingrained instincts driven home by bare necessity would have her reacting, flinching back from friendly hands.

To her, in those moments, fast movement and loud voices seemed to promise that the ones with them would turn on her … or hurt her.

That, too, was a thought that Clinton knew was one that he had better not dwell on long that night. His anger was swelling high enough as it was, and it took all of his discipline and self-control to keep his temper in check.

Thinking of those who had hurt his daughter, who had hurt a _child_ , would not help him in that regard.

And she wasn’t in the right frame of mind to interpret where that anger was directed.

Clinton stepped closer, but not too close, and wrapped an arm around Kateri’s shoulders, helping ground her with his touch to the present. (He was ready to pull back instantly if his touch triggered her, instead of helped.) Despite his disquiet over Tali, Jess was not so caught up in his own worry to be oblivious to what was going on around him or to what his own actions had caused, and his eyes focused on Kateri as soon as she flinched backwards, and Clinton saw regret in his brother-in-law’s eyes at such an action. Though Jess did not know the cause, he understood the reaction, and he regretted that he had frightened her, his almost-niece in a way and one of his own agents. Jess was nothing if not protective over those on his team. In an instant, Jess forced his temper and restless energy under control.

After a few long seconds, Kateri began to uncurl her shoulders, a defensive posture that made her look smaller, her default reaction in moments like this, and in the dim light, her cheeks went dark with the flush of embarrassment.

_She always hates being seen as weak_.

Kateri shivered hard then, and that spurred Clinton back into action, “Come on, kid. Let’s get you home.”

Getting in the car to go home was a battle all its own for Kateri, who sometimes battled with claustrophobic tendencies on the best of days. _And this is not a good day_. As cold as he knew she was and as cold as he was without his coat, Clinton didn’t hurry her or prod her to get in the car as she halted by the open door, a flash of fear crossing her face in an instant, before she tried to replace it with a blank mask.

Being a parent, having Kateri as his partner and his adopted daughter … _hopefully officially soon_ … the papers on his desk at home, her birthday gift, were not forgotten … was one of the greatest joys of Clinton’s life, but it made seeing her suffer all the more painful, but these old scars were not ones Clinton could help heal as much as he wanted to, only ones he could do his best to help her through and stand by her side through.

Finally, the allure of heat, real seats _, not concrete_ , and being as far distant from ICE as possible won over, and Kateri climbed in, handing Clinton back his coat as she did so. The two older agents let the silence linger as they pulled out of the parking lot, while Jess turned the heat on high.

In the rear-view mirror, Clinton saw that Kateri had curled up against the door, her head on the glass, and for a little while the silence lingered, she was able to rest, but finally the need to know what the h**l had happened overpowered that, and Jess gently called her name, trying to rouse her.

Nothing happened.

_She fall asleep?_

“Kid?” Clinton called gently, not wanting to startle her if she had fallen asleep.

After a moment, Kateri finally stirred, her head coming up, and her tired gaze met his in the rear-view mirror, ““Yea? Sorry.”

“Can you tell us what happened?” Jess’ voice was gentle.

Quickly but thoroughly, Kateri recapped the events of the last twenty-four hours in detail, starting with when she had met Tali at the food bank and ending when Tali had been transferred that morning. Some details of the raid itself, Jess and Clinton already knew from Daniel’s explanation, but she filled in other missing details, before going onto what happened afterwards. She seemed, Clinton thought, to be choosing her words extremely carefully when she described her parting with Tali earlier that day.

“What were you doing out there anyway?” Clinton asked once Kateri had wrapped up her story, describing the events of the disastrous last 24-hours.

“I was killing time before I went to meet Zoey, one of the techs for my old unit, for a drink. So much for that idea,” Kateri paused for a moment, her eyes going wide, “And please tell me that someone has my phones?”

“I have them,” Clinton replied, refocusing his attention back on the road, as Kateri gave a sigh of relief. “They’re with my things at the bus. I just didn’t bring them all with me. Your truck is at Headquarters.”

_A good thing you gave me keep your spare key, or we would’ve had to pick the lock or tow the thing or leave it there for now_.

* * *

Utterly exhausted and rung out, Kateri slipped back into silence at that point, curling back up against the doorframe, either dozing or just lost in thought. Glancing over to check on Jess while they were stopped at a light—he was muttering something about Stevens, imprecations, at least—Clinton posed the question of what to do next. They needed to find Tali, but they would need help to do so. Something was up with ICE, and even Kateri, who had been there, had no clue where Tali had been moved to.

“Let’s go back to the bus,” Clinton suggested, “We can regroup and plan our next step.”

Jess nodded agreement, his gaze fixed out the window.

“And you need to call Mom and Dad,” Clinton added, “Give them an update.”

_At least we can tell them Kateri’s okay … ish_.

A heavy silence fell over the car for several minutes, and Clinton tried to focus his mind on driving, tried to not let his thoughts wander.

“Kat,” Jess’ voice finally broke the silence.

“Yea, Jess?” Kateri roused from her reverie with another jerk that was visible in the rear-view mirror. Her eyes opened for a moment.

“Do you have any contacts that might be helpful?”

“Helpful with this case of yours or finding Tali?” Kateri asked, her head dipping down again.

_She can barely keep her eyes open._

“Tali.”

_When was the last time you ate?_

_You get any sleep last night?_

“I doubt it,” Kateri’s voice was almost flat in her exhaustion, “The majority of my contacts are on the street, and only a handful are in various alphabet soup agencies. The former are better for helping find someone who's hiding from the law, not someone who's being hidden by the law, and I don’t think any of the latter could help. I’m sorry.”

Silence fell again in the car, and the rest of the drive passed in silence until Clinton pulled the SUV to a stop in the parking lot where the bus was parked. With the late hour, the usual surplus of cop cars and other agency vehicles that had been present earlier that day were now gone.

Jess was the last to climb from the car, pulling his phone from his pocket as he came around the front, and he shot Clinton a pointed look and then glanced at his phone. He was going to call the folks before heading inside. Clinton nodded and turned back toward his daughter, who was standing a couple feet away, shifting from foot to foot slowly. She looked about ready to fall asleep on her feet, probably crashing from some combination of adrenaline, stress, lack of sleep, and other factors.

“Let’s get you inside where it’s warm, kid,” Clinton said softly and gestured for her to precede him toward the bus.

Barnes, Kenny, and Hana were all inside the bus, bent over their computers working, when Clinton and Kateri entered. Kenny, whose desk was nearest the door, looked up first as the creak of hinges heralded their arrival. For a second, there was a blank look in his eyes like his mind was anywhere but the bus and he had only moved automatically, instincts reacting to the sound. Then his gaze sharpened, and his eyes went wide, a look of utter relief sweeping across his face. “Kat!”

Everyone was delighted to have Kateri back safe and sound—the update about Tali, however, was received with dark looks and muttered imprecations against ICE in general and Stevens in particular. Kateri found herself was passed around from person to person for hugs, including one particularly tight bear hug from Kenny. Clinton watched cautiously as this happened, ready to intervene if the sudden movements or prolonged contact made her jumpy, but the embraces seemed to settle her, instead.

After a few minutes, Kateri was settled in a chair with water and the IB she had probably wanted for a while. _Concrete floors and an aching back … a very bad combination_. Clinton leaned against the table next to her chair, his attention going back and forth between his daughter, who was started to reexplain the saga of the last day, and the door, as he waited for Jess to return.

_Oh, her phones!_

Clinton stepped away and retrieved her phones from his bag and passed them back to her silently. She received them with a grateful smile and slipped them back into the appropriate pockets of her cargo pants without turning them back on, even as she kept on telling her story. Several minutes later, the bus door opened, and Jess entered, his phone in one hand, the other hand blocking the microphone.

Kateri startled violently at the sound of the door opening, Clinton noticed with concern, her head snapping up. Jess had an expectant look on his face like he had a question, and Kateri paused her storytelling.

“Do you want to come to the farm while this,”— _situation with Tali?_ —“gets resolved?” Jess asked.

_Oh, bless whoever came up with that idea_. As shaken as Kateri was, Clinton hadn’t been keen on the idea of her going back to her quiet apartment by herself.

Clinton added a quiet word of explanation, “Mom and Dad have been really worried about you, too.”

_One thing less for me to worry about if you’re with them, too._

Kateri glanced up at him for a moment but then nodded almost immediately, “Yes, please, but I’ll need, at least, my bag from my truck first.”

Jess made an affirmative gesture and stepped back outside to finish the call. Within about five minutes he returned, slipping his phone back into his pocket. “There’s a car coming for you, Kat. It’ll take you back to headquarters to get your things and then out to the farm.”

“Thanks, boss,” Kateri said gratefully.

The time waiting for her ride to arrive was spent with Kateri being fussed over by her teammates and being teased … gently … about her … _heart attack inducing_ … propensity for getting into trouble while off on her own. _It’s a good thing you have nine lives, kiddo, though you’ve used a few up this past year_. For Clinton, it was a nice moment of semi-normalcy after the craziness that had lasted since his return to New York. For just a few moments he could worry less about the girls. For a few moments, it almost seemed like old times to have Kateri back with them in the bus—the hunts had been disconcertingly strange the past two months without her there, and _it’ll be good to have her back soon_ —to hear the stories and the teasing.

Finally, there was a honk from the parking lot. _Her ride’s here_. Temporary goodbyes were made, and more hugs were exchanged, the longest between Kateri and Clinton.

“Take care of yourself, kid,” he said quietly.

“I will. Can’t get into too much trouble at the farm,” Kateri replied, her face muffled into the crook of his neck. There was a hint of only slightly forced levity in her voice, “Keep me apprised with updates, or if there’s anything I can do.”

“Will do.”

Jess touched her arm, carefully telegraphing the move, as Kateri moved toward the door. “Thank you, Kat, for looking out for Tali.”

Kateri forced a smile, nodding, “I just wish I could have done more, Jess.”

Jess’ eyes went hard for a moment, and he squeezed her shoulder gently, “This is on ICE, not you.”

_And there’ll be a reckoning for this_.


End file.
